Priceless
by SeaWraith46
Summary: Chloe asks Max to help her dye her hair. (tw: marijuana use)


Max was sitting on Chloe's bed with her back against the wall, reading from one of her photography textbooks. She was doing her best to pay attention to the words on the page in front of her, but kept sneaking looks at Chloe at the end of every paragraph. Chloe was at her desk, slouched down so far that her head was resting on the back of her chair. She was staring at the ceiling with her arms dangling at her sides, occasionally raising the joint she held in one hand to her mouth and lazily blowing smoke into the air. A slight breeze periodically came through the open window to rustle her hair and send the smoke drifting across the room. Max had spent the last twenty minutes trying to work up the courage to tell Chloe how beautiful she looked, but couldn't think of a way to do it without sounding embarrassingly cheesy.

A moment later, Chloe snuffed out her joint in one of the ashtrays littering her desk before standing and walking over to the bed. She flopped down on her back near the head of the bed and wormed her way over to Max so her head was resting in Max's lap. Max froze, doing her best to act like she was still focusing on her textbook.

"Maaaaax," Chloe whined, lifting her hand to poke Max's cheek.

Max swatted Chloe's finger away and tried to continue reading. "What?"

"I'm bored."

"No, you're Chloe. And you're high."

"True," Chloe said, trying again to touch Max's cheek but Max kept deflecting her. Eventually Chloe started using both hands to try to poke her and Max finally set her textbook aside in order to block her better. She pushed away from the wall and got onto her knees, grabbing Chloe's hands and pinning them against the bed on either side of Chloe's head. The stared at each other for a few seconds until Chloe grinned and raised her head give Max a kiss on the lips.

"This is a good angle for you," Chloe said after pulling away.

Max snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure the inside of my nose is _really_ sexy."

"Damn right it is, Caulfield," Chloe said, lifting her head again to kiss the tip of Max's nose.

"You're weird."

"Nope, just high. And still bored. C'mon, we need to find something to do."

Max released Chloe's hands and sat back on the bed. She let her gaze wander around the room, searching for some sort of inspiration, but found none. After a few seconds, her eyes found their way back to Chloe and she smiled, reaching out to play with Chloe's hair.

"Staring at me and playing with my hair isn't gonna help us find something to do," Chloe said but Max could see the smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. "I mean, _I'm_ something to do, but I don't feel like doing that right now.

Max laughed and swatted Chloe on the shoulder with her free hand. "Why do I even put up with you?"

"Because you love me, nerd. Duh," Chloe said with a grin.

"Sometimes I question my judgment on that one," Max said, ruffling Chloe's hair.

A comfortable silence settled over them as Max went back to stroking Chloe's hair. Chloe closed her eyes lay still for long enough that Max was pretty sure she was asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, Max took her hand away from Chloe's head and reached for her textbook.

"Hair!" Chloe yelled suddenly, startling Max so badly she almost fell of the bed.

"Jesus, Chloe," Max said, clutching a hand to her chest.

"Sorry, I just finally thought of something we can do. I need to dye my hair and you should help me. We should dye yours, too!" Chloe said, her face lighting up at the thought.

Max groaned. "I really don't think that's a good idea, Chloe."

"Aw, c'mon, you'd look great with blue hair," Chloe said, frowning slightly when Max shook her head. "Okay, um, what if we only did a small strip of your hair? And you can always rewind if you don't like it."

"Okay," Max conceded and Chloe pumped her fist in the air triumphantly.

"Yes, awesome!" Chloe said as she got up from the bed. "Wait here, I gotta get some stuff ready."

Max leaned back against the wall again as Chloe left the room, listening with amusement as Chloe ran up and down the stairs a few times and cursing as she fumbled with things in the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Chloe came back into her bedroom and went to her closet, rooting around a bit before pulling out two tattered t-shirts that had several blue stains on them.

"Here, put this on," Chloe said, handing Max one of the shirts. "They're old shirts so it doesn't matter if we get dye on them," she explained when Max gave her a quizzical look.

Max nodded and changed into the ratty shirt as Chloe did the same. Once they were both ready, Chloe grabbed Max's hand and pulled her toward the bathroom. Scattered about the bathroom were several towels, a bowl filled with blue hair dye, and two pairs of latex gloves.

"We'll do mine first," Chloe said, wrapping a towel around her shoulders and giving Max a pair of gloves. "Just use your fingers to put the dye on my hair, but only do the top part of my head, the rest of it doesn't need to be dyed. Wait, shit, not that much," Chloe said, laughing as Max picked up a giant handful of the dye. "Otherwise the top will be way darker and it'll look weird."

Picking up significantly less of the dye this time, Max did her best to follow Chloe's instructions as she applied it to her hair. She stepped back to appraise her work a few minutes later, nodding with satisfaction. "I think I'm done."

"Sweet, then we should do yours."

Max looked down at the dye covering her gloved hands and grinned. "No, wait, I'm not done yet," Max said, reaching toward Chloe's face.

"What the—" Chloe grabbed Max's wrists, doing her best to avoid the dye-laden fingers that were seeking her face. "What are you doing?"

"Dyeing your eyebrows," Max said as she continued to struggle toward Chloe's face.

"And what the hell makes you think that's a good idea?"

"It'll look really sexy, I promise."

Chloe scoffed and tilted her head back out of Max's reach. "Somehow I doubt that."

"No, it does. You let me do it and it looked really good but I messed up a little. I had to rewind so I could do it over."

"Really?"

"Yes. I promise," Max said with a blank expression, ruining it a moment later when she started laughing at the incredulous look on Chloe's face. "Okay, no, not really."

"Thought so," Chloe said, releasing Max as she lowered her hands.

Before Chloe could react, Max reached out and poked the tip of Chloe's nose, leaving a small blue smear behind.

"Dammit, Max!" Chloe said, scrubbing at her face with her towel. "You better rewind and undo that so it doesn't stain."

"No," Max said, shaking her head. "I like it there."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You are such a brat. Now, let me do yours. And I promise I'll only dye your hair," she said after Max gave her a suspicious look.

"Okay, fine," Max said as Chloe used a barrette to separate a few strands of Max's hair from the rest and laid a towel over her shoulders. She still watched Chloe extra carefully as Chloe put the dye on her hair, though, just in case.

"Done," Chloe said. "Now we just have to wait a few minutes for the dye to set."

"You sure you don't want me to dye your eyebrows while we wait?"

"Oh my god, yes, I'm positive I don't want you to do that, you weirdo."

About twenty minutes later, Chloe got up, turned on the shower, and began rinsing the extra dye out of her hair, having Max do the same once she was finished.

"So?" Chloe asked as Max toweled off her hair. "What do you think?"

Max looked in the mirror, eying the newly-dyed blue strip on the left side of her face. "I'm not sure I like it."

"Really? That's too bad. You can always just rewind, though, right?" Chloe said, her voice muffled by the towel covering her face as she dried her hair.

"I could, yeah…" Max trailed off, watching Chloe with a small smile. "But then you wouldn't remember us doing this and I don't want that."

"Thanks, Max," Chloe said, pulling Max into a hug and kissing her forehead. "I think it looks great, but I'm sorry you don't really like it."

"That's okay," Max said as she wrapped her arms around Chloe. "It's worth having blue hair for a while because memories with you are…Priceless."

Chloe groaned and playfully pushed Max away from her. "It's a good thing you're cute, you dork," she said as she gathered up their hair dyeing supplies and exited the bathroom.

"Excuse you, I am _hella_ cute," Max called after her, laughing when she heard Chloe groan again.


End file.
